Oral hygiene device

ABSTRACT

A bubble-containing water jet is provided in order that oral tissues may withstand a more rapid moving jet so that a nonpulsating jet of water can be more effectively utilized to provide cleansing of teeth and stimulation of oral tissue. The bubbles are produced by passing the water constituting the jet through a Venturi section of a tube which is vented in the low pressure section so that air is drawn into the water which is forced through the tube providing innumerable tiny bubbles in the water jet which issues from the outlet of the tube.

United States Patent [191 Gartner 51 Aug. 13,1974

[73] Assignee: Gartner Research & Development Co., Bartlett, 111.

[22] Filed: Nov. 10, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 305,296

[52] US. Cl. 128/66, 128/62 A [51] Int. Cl ..f A61h 9/00 [58] Field ofSearch 128/66, 62 A, 229, 230, 128/239 [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 2,757,668 8/1956 Meyer-Saladin 128/62 A 3,605,734 9/1971lgarashi et a1. 128/66 Primary Examiner-Lawrence W. Trapp Attorney,Agent, or Firm-Dressler, Goldsmith, Clement & Gordon, Ltd.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A bubble-containing water jet is provided in order thatoral tissues may withstand a more rapid moving jet so that anon-pulsating jet of water can be more effectively utilized to providecleansing of teeth and stimulation of oral tissue. The bubbles areproduced by passing the water constituting the jet through a Venturisection of a tube which is vented in the low pressure section so thatair is drawn into the water which is forced through the tube providinginnumerable tiny bubbles in the water jet which issues from the outletof the tube.

11 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure ORAL HYGIENE DEVICE The present inventionrelates to an oral irrigating and tooth cleansing device adapted toproduce a jet of aerated water upon connection with a source of waterunder pressure, e.g., a faucet.

Dental syringes and the like are available to deliver a low velocitystream of water into the mouth which is useful for flushing dentalmaterials and the like out of the mouth, but the water velocity isnecessarily limited because, with an incompressible fluid like water,excessive velocity applies an excessive pressure on the gums and othertissues in the mouth, inducing undesired pain or damage to the gumtissue or the more fragile sublingual tissue and producing littlebeneficial stimulation of the tissues.

In an effort to effectively employ water jets of higher velocity in oralhygiene, resort has been had to the use of a pulsating jet consisting ofspaced apart pressure pulses which are produced by a pump including aplunger which reciprocates at high speed in order to provide about 800to about 1,600 distinct pulses per minute in order that the tissuesdepressed by the pressure of the pulse might rebound between the pulses.Of course, the pump required is costly, requires electricity foroperation, and batteries if it is portable, the pump parts wear and mustbe replaced, and operation is noisy.

This invention has as its purpose the provision of a simplefaucet-attached structure which will provide a jet of water at highvelocity which will enable effective tooth cleansing and oral tissuestimulation without the need for a pulsating water jet and, therefore,without recourse to the complex pump structure which was hithertoconsidered to be necessary for this purpose.

In this invention, water under pressure from any convenient source, suchas the common household faucet or spigot, is passed through a tubeincluding a constriction or Venturi section with the tube being ventedin the low pressure section of the tube so that air is drawn into thewater which then issues from the tube as a high velocity jet of smalldiameter which is filled with innumerable bubbles having a diameter atthe outlet of the jet in the range of 0.005 inch to 0.050 inch indiameter, for a jet issuing from an outlet having a diameter of 0.060inch. in ordinary operation, in excess of 10,000 bubbles per second aregenerated providing a high velocity water jet which, because of thepresence of these bubbles, is ajet of compressible liquid. While thewater itself cannot be compressed, the air bubbles within the jet arecompressible and this permits higher velocities to be used without painor damage to sensitive oral tissues providing effective cleansing ofteeth and a considerable tissue stimulation which induces a tinglingsensation in the oral tissues.

The invention will be more fully understood from the drawing which showsa cross-section of an oral hygiene device constructed in accordance withthe invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the oral hygiene device isgenerally identified by the numeral 10, and it includes a tubular holder11, the rear end of which is threaded at 12 for attachment to afaucetconnected hose, and the forward end of which is secured to atubular extension 13 which, in turn, is secured to a nozzle 14.

The tubular holder 11 is axially bored, there being a small diameteraxial hole 15 in the forward end of the holder 11 and there being alarge diameter axial hole 16 in the rear of the holder 11. Intennediatethe axial holes 15 and 16 is a Venturi section 17 having a constrictedportion 18. An air inlet 19 communicates with the constricted or lowpressure section 18 of the Venturi 17 so that, as water under pressurepasses through the axial holes 16 and 15, a considerable volume of airis drawn into the holder 11 through the air inlet 19.

The forward extremity or tip of the holder 11 is formed with an enlargedbore 20 in order to provide a seat for the rear end of the tubularextension 13. The tubular extension 13 defines an axial opening which isapproximately of the same diameter as the diameter of the axial hole 15in the holder 11 and provides a continuation of the holder. The forwardend of the tubular extension 13 is cut at an angle, desirably an angleof 45 to provide an angled tip 21, the angle being with respect to theaxis of the tube, in order that it can be conveniently received in anenlarged bore 22 in the rear of the nozzle 14. The nozzle 14 includes anaxial bore 23 of small diameter, substantially the same as the diametersof the holes in the tubular extension 13 and the axial hole 15 in theholder 11. The tip 21 of the tubular extension 13 is then seated in theenlarged bore 22 in order to provide an outlet 24 at the forward end ofthe nozzle 14. This permits the jet of aerated water to be convenientlymanipulated and directed within the mouth.

The holder 11 may be conveniently formed of brass and the tubularextension 13 and the nozzle 14 may be conveniently brass which has beenplated with nickel. These parts may be brazed together, but solderingcan be used in place of brazing if desired. A gasket 25 is desirablyprovided at the rear of the holder 11 in order that the threadedsecurement can be fluid-tight.

In order to illustrate the invention in its presently preferred form,the hole 16 at the rear of the holder 11 is formed to a diameter ofone-eighth inch and the hole 15 at the forward end of the holder 11 hasa diameter of one-sixteenth inch. The constricted or low pressureportion 18 of the Venturi 17 has a diameter of one thirty-second inchand extends for a distance of nine sixty-fourths inch. The air inlet 19has a diameter of one-sixteenth inch. The enlarged bore 20 at theforward end of the tubular extension 13 has a diameter of L29 inch, andthe tubular extension 13 has an external diameter of one-eighth inch andan internal diameter of onesixteenth inch. Similarly, the internaldiameter of the bore 23 at the forward end of nozzle 14 is onesixteenthinch.

Utilizing the structure described above, and typical operatingconditions, it was found that, when the air inlet 19 is sealed,unaerated water will flow through the device at a rate of 9 ml. persecond at a maximum pressure of 48 p.s.i. Uncovering the air inlet 19,and directing the aerated water stream into a graduated cylinder filledwith water inverted in a basin, it was found that 3 ml. of air persecond were introduced into the cylinder. Bubbles from the aerated jetwere then collected on a glass plate submerged in water, and the meansize of the bubbles at the outlet was established to be ap proximately0.030 inch in diameter. With this data, it was calculated thatapproximately 13,300 bubbles per second were present in the water jet.Even varying the orifice diameters and the operating pressures, it isbelieved that there will be produced at least about 3,000 bubbles persecond, and a minimum of approximately 6,000 per second representspreferred operation. As previously indicated, ordinary operation of apreferred structure as disclosed herein produces in excess of 10,000bubbles per second when operated to provide an aerated jet ofappropriate velocity.

In order that the jet of aerated water will be appropriate for oralhygiene, theorifice in the nozzle 24 should be in the range of fromabout one thirty-second inch to about one-eighth inch, preferredpractice being the one-sixteenth inch orifice described. The jetvelocity will vary with the individual, and this can be adjusted byadjusting the rate of flow of water issuing from the faucet in the usualmanner. While the relative sizes of the component parts of the devicecan vary considerably, it will be appreciated that the tubular holder 11should be sized for convenience of hand holding and that the nozzleshould be small enough to fit easily be tween the cheeks and the gum.

The invention is defined in the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. An oral irrigating and tooth cleansing device comprising a tubularholder adapted to be held in the hand, said holder defining a lengthwiseoriented bore communicating with an orifice, said bore containing aVenturi including a low pressure section at a location spaced from saidorifice by a distance many fold in excess of the diameter of said bore,an air inlet communieating with said low pressure section of saidVenturi, means for attaching the rear of said holder to a supply ofwater under pressure, and the front end of said holder being connectedwith a nozzle for directing a single jet of aerated water into themouth.

2. A device as recited in claim 1 in which a tubular extensioninterconnects said holder and said nozzle.

3. A device as recited in claim 1 in which said nozzle is mounted atabout a 45 angle with respect to the axis of said holder.

4. A device as recited in claim 1 in which said nozzle has an orificehaving a diameter at the outlet in the range of from about onethirty-second inch to about one-eighth inch.

5. A device as recited in claim 4 in which said Ven turi and said airinlet are dimensioned to introduce at least about 3,000 bubbles persecond into the water flowing through said Venturi.

6. A device as recited in claim 5 in which the orifices in said nozzleand in the forward end of said holder have a diameter of aboutone-sixteenth inch.

7. A method of cleansing the teeth and irrigating the gum tissuescomprising passing a stream of water through a Venturi including a lowpressure section, there being an air inlet connected with said lowpressure section of said Venturi to introduce into said stream of waterinnumerable air bubbles having a diameter in the range of 0.005 inch to0.050 inch, directing a stream of aerated water so-produced through atube having a length many fold in excess of its diameter and thencethrough an orifice to form a jet, and directing said jet into the mouth.

8. A mehod as recited in claim 7 in which said aerated water is passedthrough an orifice having a diameter in the outlet in the range of aboutone thirty-second inch to about one-eighth inch in order to provide thejet of aerated water which is directed into the mouth.

9. A method as recited in claim 7 in which said aerated water in saidjet contains at least about 3,000 bubbles per second.

10. A method as recited in claim 9 in which said aerated water in saidjet contains at least about l0,000 bubbles per second.

11. A device as recited in claim 1 in which said sup ply of water underpressure comprises a household faucet.

1. An oral irrigating and tooth cleansing device comprising a tubularholder adapted to be held in the hand, said holder defining a lengthwiseoriented bore communicating with an orifice, said bore containing aVenturi including a low pressure section at a location spaced from saidorifice by a distance many fold in excess of the diameter of said bore,an air inlet communicating with said low pressure section of saidVenturi, means for attaching the rear of said holder to a supply ofwater under pressure, and the front end of said holder being connectedwith a nozzle for directing a single jet of aerated water into themouth.
 2. A device as recited in claim 1 in which a tubular extensioninterconnects said holder and said nozzle.
 3. A device as recited inclaim 1 in which said nozzle is mounted at about a 45* angle withrespect to the axis of said holder.
 4. A device as recited in claim 1 inwhich said nozzle has an orifice having a diameter at the outlet in therange of from about one thirty-second inch to about one-eighth inch. 5.A device as recited in claim 4 in which said Venturi and said air inletare dimensioned to introduce at least about 3,000 bubbles per secondinto the water flowing through said Venturi.
 6. A device as recited inclaim 5 in which the orifices in said nozzle and in the forward end ofsaid holder have a diameter of about one-sixteenth inch.
 7. A method ofcleansing the teeth and irrigating the gum tissues comprising passing astream of water through a Venturi including a low pressure section,there being an air inlet connected with said low pressure section ofsaid Venturi to introduce into said stream of water innumerable airbubbles having a diameter in the range of 0.005 inch to 0.050 inch,directing a stream of aerated water so-produced through a tube having alength many fold in excess of its diameter and thence through an orificeto form a jet, and directing said jet into the mouth.
 8. A mehod asrecited in claim 7 in which said aerated water is passed through anorifice having a diameter in the outlet in the range of about onethirty-second inch to about one-eighth inch in order to provide the jetof aerated water which is directed into the mouth.
 9. A method asrecited in claim 7 in which said aerated water in said jet contains atleast about 3,000 bubbles per second.
 10. A method as recited in claim 9in which said aerated water in said jet contains at least about 10,000bubbles per second.
 11. A device as recited in claim 1 in which saidsupply of water under pressure comprises a household faucet.